Steven Spielberg’s ‘Ready Player One’ Casts Tye Sheridan in Leading Role

Since making his debut in Tree of Life, Tye Sheridan has rapidly ascended the list of the most talented young actors to watch. And if you thought his upcoming role as Cyclops in X-Men: Apocalypse was going to put him at the top of that list, you may have been right, as Sheridan has signed on for another potentially major blockbuster, landing the lead role in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Ready Player One.

Deadline reports that actor has been cast as the lead protagonist in Ready Player One, the upcoming action-adventure film based on Ernest Cline’s hit, nostalgia-centric and pop culture reference-heavy novel of the same name.

The film takes place in the near future, where users plug in to a vast virtual world known as Oasis. Upon his death, its creator leaves behind a hidden easter egg, promising his fortune and the keys to Oasis to the player who finds it. Sheridan will play Wade, the film’s protagonist, who embarks on a dangerous mission to find the prize before it falls into the wrong hands.

Olivia Cooke (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) will play Samantha, Wade’s romantic interest and a rival in his search for the egg, with Ben Mendelsohn as Nolan, a high-level executive from an insidious corporation that wants to take over and monetize Oasis.

Sheridan recently appeared in Dark Places and The Stanford Prison Experiment, and can be seen next in X-Men: Apocalypse, which hits theaters on May 27. Ready Player One arrives on March 30, 2018.